More than a well-balanced breakfast: Scientists use egg whites for clean energy production

"Hydrogen is a promising fuel and energy storage medium because hydrogen emits no global warming gas when used. Nevertheless, hydrogen generation reactions usually require fossil fuels and emit carbon dioxide," said Hiroyasu Tabe, a special appointment research associate at the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka City University in Japan.

Tabe - Photocatalyst - Reaction - Hydrogen - Generation

According to Tabe, it would be extremely efficient to use a photocatalyst to speed the reaction of hydrogen generation from a renewable source, such as solar power. Called hydrogen evolution, the gas must be stored and kept from recombining into more common molecules that aren't useful for producing clean fuel.

"Precise accumulation of molecules acting as catalytic components are important to construct a photocatalytic system," Tabe said. "When the molecular components are randomly distributed in the solution or formless compounds, the catalytic reactions cannot proceed."

Way - Molecules - Production - Proteins - Bacteria

One promising way to precisely accumulate these catalytic molecules is through the production of pure proteins by cultivated bacteria, but they require...